JPMorgan opposes $8b award by court

Plaintiffs alleged that bank representatives failed to meet financial deadlines for assets under their control

JPMorgan Chase & Co urged a judge to throw out a stunning $8 billion jury verdict over a mismanaged inheritance, saying the family deserves nothing.

“The law and evidence do not support any claim against JPMorgan, much less the unprecedented multi-billiondollar punitive damage award, which the heirs have already admitted is unconstitutionally excessive,” the bank said in a filing in Dallas probate court.

Two children of Max Hopper, a former American Airlines executive who died in 2010, have already asked that the damages for them and their father’s estate be reduced to about $74 million, while his widow has yet to weigh in with any adjustment to the ninth-largest verdict in US history.

JPMorgan said the jury “accepted to the penny, the extraordinary invitation” of the family’s legal team to award the $8 billion without doing any “independent analysis,” according to Thursday’s filing. The bank previously said it was “highly confident” the verdict wouldn’t stand under Texas law. Hopper, who pioneered a reservation system for the airline, died unexpectedly with assets of more than $19 million but without a will, according to court records.

JPMorgan was hired to administer the estate and the bank should have divided the assets and released them to Jo Hopper and her stepchildren, according to the lawsuit. Instead, her lawyers said in a statement, “the bank took years to release basic interests in art, home furnishings, jewellery, and notably, [Mr] Hopper’s collection of 6,700 golf putters and 900 bottles of wine. Some of the interests in the assets were not released for more than five years.’’

The plaintiffs alleged that bank representatives failed to meet financial deadlines for assets under their control, among other reasons.